1. 1. Ruth Hohl Borger, Ed.D., APR | Assistant Vice President, UF/IFAS Communications ACE Confrence, June 10, 2015 Leading with Soul: How looking inward may be your most effective leadership tool
2. 2. Ultimately, leadership development is self- development. Musicians have their instruments. Engineers have their computers. Accountants have their calculators. Leaders have themselves. They are their own instruments. Kouzes and Posner, 1993
3. 3. There is a lot of literature on leadership but not a lot on developing authentic leadership. The fundamental crisis underlying mediocrity [in leadership] is intellectual. If we know all too much about our leaders, we know far too little about leadershipLeadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth. James Macgregor Burns, 1978
4. 4. How can a leader be expected to transform and organization. If s/he cannot transform themselves?
5. 5. How can a leader understand the needs, wants and desires of followers without understanding his or her own the needs, wants, and desires first?
6. 6. Parker Palmer on teaching .and leadership Palmers premise is that good teaching cannot be reduced to good technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Can we assume the same for leadership
7. 7. If yes Then leaders can focus on developing a highly defined sense of self and operate with authenticity [dont believe me, believe Bennis, Kouzes and Posner and others]
8. 8. Where to start? How do you define this authentic leadership framework? What are the identifying characteristics? Does this even work?
9. 9. Defining authentic leadership Exercise One What are some characteristics that define authentic leadership for you?
10. 10. What are the characteristics of authentic individuals? They seem to have high self-awareness they know themselves Listen to an inner voice
11. 11. Authentic leadership theory proposes that leaders adopt a process of integrating ones inner life with the work they do [Elsner, 2000] By paying attention to ones inner landscape. Authenticity blends the emotional, the subjective, and the intuitive processes that are so critical to guiding us through our lives with the conventionally accepted as of working with objectivity, and scientific methods.
12. 12. Discovering your personal magic and wisdom Through EXPERIENCE Exercise 2 Write down an experience and the significant leadership lesson you learned
13. 13. Authentic Leadership Requires introspection Critical self-reviews of values and performance and Emotional maturity
14. 14. First , have a relationship with yourself Then, you might understand how to be in a leadership relationship with others.
15. 15. Personal change is one key to successful leadership Personal change is a reflection of inner growth and empowerment. By having the courage to change themselves, leaders can model the behavior they are asking of others. Exercise 3 : Write down an experience where changing your own perspective or practice, helped change the behavior of others.
16. 16. Exercise 4 Reflect on an experience -- perhaps an unsuccessful one - where you really learned a life lesson that resulted in a significant personal change for you.
17. 17. There is an important link between deep change at the personal level and deep change at the organizational level. To make deep personal change is to develop a new paradigm, a new self, and one that is more effectively aligned with todays realities. This can occur only if we are willing to journey into unknown territory and confront the wicked problems we encounter.
18. 18. The journey does not follow the assumptions of rational planning this tortuous journey requires that we leave our comfort zone and step outside our normal roles. In so doing, we learn the paradoxical lesson that we can change the world only by changing ourselves. This is not just a cute abstraction; it is an elusive key to effective performance in all aspects of life. Quinn, Deep Change, 1996
19. 19. The leader as mythical hero Joseph Campbell The leader as spiritual hero who symbolically needs to undertake the heros journey, complete with moral, ethical, intellectual and emotional challenges. If successful, the hero/leader emerges from an experience of individual transformation to effectively lead his community through transformational change.
20. 20. Steps on the heros journey: Embracing the darker moments of leadership Lets talk about the setbacks, the failures the self doubts and despair. Listening to the soul and appreciating its message. Soulful leaders embrace the challenges they face, immersing themselves in conflict. They do not avoid conflict but value what it brings to relationships.
21. 21. Embracing our humanness; doing some soul work The goal is to connect to ourselves and our community
22. 22. So How do leaders come to know themselves and bring meaning to the process of self- transformation or to the process of developing authentic leadership?
23. 23. Steps to becoming a soulful leader Assume responsibility for your own education Accept responsibility and reject he impulse to blame others Realize that you [and others] can learn anything they want to learn Reflection as a path to true understanding Bennis, On Becoming a Leader, 1994
24. 24. Get to know yourself all of you Develop an appreciation for the paradoxical mysteries of our lives. Develop a tolerance for ambiguity Embrace conflict Look to yourself first for explanation and mearning before looking outward
25. 25. Understand what really brings you fulfillment I didnt do it for the gold watch. Think about your values and what does living with integrity mean for you. I would have a difficult time devoting my time to something that as only a corporate job. I have to have some belief in what I am doing.
26. 26. there comes these moments in your life when you seem especially energized where you feel most like you What is your calling?
27. 27. Leaders must look within themselves to recognize urges, fears, and tensions that can sustain, distort, or undermine their well- intended efforts. They must recognize a paradoxical truth: only when they acknowledge and accept the shadow within, the darker impluses that they often deny to themselves and others, can they become whole as leaders. Bolman and Deal, (2006). The Wizard and Warrior.
28. 28. What to do, what to do Something different Try some poetry or philosophy Try meditation and reflection Try being quiet Get a life Nurture your ego
29. 29. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light. Joseph Campbell, 1991.
30. 30. Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. Albus Dumbledore Stars cant shine without darkness. Thank you!